The Lakers.
Phil Jackson will be back. Kobe will be back. Gasol will be back. And allowing for a trade here and there, every other key component in their arsenal will return, too. Yeah, they’ll re-sign both Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom. They’d be foolish not to. And those players would be foolish to look for green elsewhere when they have tasted championship glory here. They’ll be offered enough to stay, and they will. Everyone will.
Lamar Odom has often been referred to as a talented player who sometimes doesn’t play up to his ability when his mind is elsewhere. And the Lakers overall this past season, especially during the playoffs, were referred to in the same terms. So it is no surprise to hear so many people say that when Lamar plays well, the Lakers are unbeatable. He’s sort of a microcosm of the team itself. Immensely talented and unstoppable when running on all cylinders.
The Lakers have the offense, the rebounding, the intelligence, the athleticism and the quickness to repeat next year. They also have the defense when they decide to play defense. All of those ingredients carefully blended together in chemistry lab has molded a team that has to be favored to win again in 2010. Still a young team, they’ll be stronger and more experienced. And they’ll want their hunger satisfied again. At least one more time.